App Detail » Cosmographia

What's New

New Solar System gallery screen for quickly navigating to planets, moons and asteroidsPlanetary atlas: labels for surface features of planets and moonsDetailed 3D model of the asteroid VestaTrajectory and information about the newly discovered near-Earth asteroid 2012 DA14Added switch to select between metric and Imperial/US unitsNew distance measuring tool: choose any two objects and display the distance between them and their relative speed

App Description

Cosmographia is a Solar System simulation that combines beautiful 3D graphics with real data for the positions and appearances of planets, moons, dwarf planets, asteroids and spacecraft. Navigate freely throughout the Solar System and adjust the time to observe past, current, and future events.

The incredible graphics are a great showcase for a new computer, with dynamic shadows and reflections, realistic planetary atmospheres and beautifully rendered star fields.

IMPORTANT NOTE:* Cosmographia makes intensive use of the graphics processing unit, and the current version of the app does not support older computers with Intel GMA 950 graphics processors.

With Cosmographia, you can:

- See high resolution maps for all planets and moons that have been visited by NASA and ESA spacecraft.

- Follow the Cassini mission to Saturn as it cruises low over the surfaces of icy moons. Or, ride along with the Dawn mission to the giant asteroids Vesta and Ceres.

- View eclipses on Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, and other worlds.

- Fly along with Earth-orbiting satellites. Find out when the International Space Station, Hubble, and others will be over your home town.

- Watch volcanic eruptions on Jupiter's moon Io.

- Zoom in on an extremely high resolution map of the Earth, with individual roads and buildings visible. Switch between different maps for each month and see changes in snow cover and vegetation.

- See all 500,000+ known asteroids orbit the Sun.

- Watch aurora borealis flickering above the Arctic Circle.

- Capture images and record Quicktime movies of everything on screen.

- Follow near-Earth asteroid 2011 MD through its close approach in June 2011.

- Supports an anaglyph stereo mode that works with red/blue 3D glasses.

Cosmographia includes short articles about over 50 Solar System bodies. Each description contains links to live viewpoints, so you can quickly check out interesting objects and events in the Solar System.